Top 10 reasons why the Videocon HD Smart connect d2h makes sense in your living room
Videocon d2h is one of the country’s leading direct to home dish TV services. They have a wide reach across the nation and they have competitive pricing. Videocon d2h offers a wide platter of regional channels, which is one of their biggest value proposition. Recently Videocon launched its HD Smart Connect set-top box. This service is quite unique and very much affordable. With the internet revolution happening around you, you might feel a bit left out, if you are still hanging on to that ancient piece of technology called the “Idiot Box” or the TV. The Smart Connect set-top box aims to add the smartness quotient to your Television viewing experience.
I have been using the Videocon HD Smart Connect D2H service for over 6 months now and here are Top 10 reasons, why it makes sense in your living room.
#1 – Mobile App
Videcon has developed the D2H smart remote app for this set-top box. Hands down this is one of the coolest mobile TV Remote app, I have ever used. The design is very intuitive and easy to use. The visual design is also futuristic. One a swipe, you get the TV guides organized by languages. A cool rotating gesture is used to navigate the channels. Navigating channels and adjusting volume, is just too cool to use. I find it not only attractive, but also easy to use. Even when the mobile is locked, the TV can be controlled as the navigation shade has all the essential controls. I didn’t find the gaming joysticks useful. The TV guide also had elaborate program information and timings. Almost everything on the Set-top box can be controlled with this app.
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#2 – Dumb TV to Smart TV
The smart TV trend is a new one and probably you invested in a good TV, before this revolution. You may be having a plasma or even a good quality CRT or LCD non-smart TV and if you are thinking that you are missing out on all the stuff that a smart TV can do, then you must buy the D2H Smart Connect. The smart connect offers a bunch of apps like under Multimedia, Social News and Weather Categories. Once the set-top box is connected to Internet, you can access all these apps.
#3 – Mirror Mobile on TV
Among the many apps that is available on the Set-top box, Mobile Cast is noteworthy. Once connected you can cast your mobile screen on your TV. This is possible if you had a smart TV, but in a case where your TV is just a TV, the Smart Connect Set-top box can do the task for you.
#4 – Record Program
You can connect upto 1TB of external storage to the Smart Connect Set-top box and start recording TV programs. Ofcouse, for copyright protection, the recorded content cannot be shared or watched elsewhere. But when connected to a Smart Connect Set-top box, the recorded content can be viewed at your own time and convenience.
#5 – Smart Remote
The Smart Remote that comes with the Smart Connect Set-top box is very sleek and nicely designed. As it is a white colored remote, using it in the dark is not an issue. It runs on LR32 battery which is very power efficient. The buttons were nicely spaced apart and using it is very easy.
#6 – Seamless connected experience
You can argue that you can get a Chromecast or Android TV to make your Dumb TV, Smart. Yes, Android TV offers much more versatile features than the Smart Connect Set-top box. But you will have to switch between devices or connect to different ports. With Smart Connect Set-top box, it is on the same device and port. Switching between your TV program and Smart apps is much faster and simpler task.
#7 -Fast and Snappy user interface
I have been using Tata Sky for most part of my TV life and have used Sun Dish and Airtel Dish occasionally. But I liked how Videcon has arranged the navigation in the Smart Connect Set-top box user interface. Everything you need to find is just there and I give full brownie points to Smart Connect Set-top box for being the fastest user interface ever. Switching between channels and switching between different applications is snappy.
While browsing for channels, each channel icon will show you a live preview of what is playing and I found it incredibly useful.
#8 – Easy to find, Easy to Use interface
It also offers search feature. I can search for a program or an actor name to find the program in the channel he is playing. Hands-down I would say that the Search feature took me by surprise. We are not used to searching for a TV channel, but once you start using it, you can never go back. However I found that searching with the remote was difficult, so I used the mobile app to key-in the query.
#9 – Affordable price
Videocon offers over 600 channels. It may not be the leader in number of HD channels, but it is definitely cost effective. Smart Connect Set-top box costs about Rs 3490 and Rs 2490 for upgrade. I find the Videocon service to be affordable to buy and also on the long run.
#10 – Dependable Service
In my personal experience, I found out that the customer service from Videocon was really good. Installation was prompt and professional. After installation, I had a couple of issues. Once my remote got unpaired from the Smart Connect Set-top box. Then someone in our apartment had messed up with my dish’s receiver. On both the occasion, the service engineer came home within a few hours and got it resolved.
There is always room for improvement
These thoughts are out of my personal experience with Videocon HD Smart connect d2h service. The only thing that I had as a feedback to Videocon was that the smart apps must have the ability to be opened as overlay or picture-in-picture while watching regular TV. I must be able to watch TV and at the same time, watch cricket scores as overlay. Also YouTube intergration must come soon. Youtube is a major app that India would like to have on their TV. Otherwise there was nothing to complain about the service in general.
Should you buy it?
I have had pleasant experiences with the Videocon HD Smart connect d2h. If you are looking to buy a Smart connected dish service, you must go for Videocon HD Smart connect d2h. Airtel provides a similar service called the Airtel Internet TV. It is expensive and does not add up to better value for money. I would choose the Videocon HD Smart connect d2h over Airtel Internet TV. But if you have a smart TV at home, these connected set-top box would not make much sense. If you have a good quality TV and not looking to upgrade to a Smart TV in the near future, the Videocon HD Smart connect d2h definitely makes sense in your living room.
